Despite sounding clunky on paper and getting pegged as "The Spanish Person Pitch," Alegranza! stands as a completely singular work. Somewhere between maddening and hypnotizing, El Guincho's album achieves a remarkably strong blend between being something familiar and being something unlike anything before it. Using heavily repeated grooves and minimalist composition, Alegranza! makes for an intriguing listen, at least. There are several moments on Alegranza! that invoke a “Hey, that sounds kind of like (so and so),” but before the similarity becomes a knockoff, El Guincho takes off in a completely different direction, making the album both heavily influenced and completely unique at the same time. With Alegranza!, El Guincho takes what could have been a disaster and forms one of the most peculiar, inimitable records of the year. Chow down